Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone

DTEAM

MAME 0.258 is available

New working systems

Apple Computer Macintosh Quadra 605 [R. Belmont]
Apple Computer Macintosh Quadra 630 [R. Belmont]
Daifugo (Japan) [Takahiro Nogi, anonymous]
Ideal Toy Corporation Sky-Writer: The Electronic Message Sender [hap, Sean Riddle]
Konami Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Splinter Speaks (handheld) [hap, algestam, Sean Riddle, Mr. Do]
Player's Edge Plus (X000444P+XP000038) Standard Draw Poker [Brian Troha]
Silicon Graphics IRIS Indigo R4000 [Patrick Mackinlay]
Wanpaku Safari (J 981109 V1.000) [TeamEurope, MetalliC]

ktmnt2 = Konami Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Splinter Speaks is available for konamih system

Folly

@DTEAM @jamrom2

I am very busy with updating the WIP mamedev.sh script.
I am about to merge the "WIP" and the "WIP TEST" into one script and make it the default script.
I have already added a lot of features to it like :

simple version change so updating will be easier for me
update to 0258 ( waiting for progettosnaps updates )
be able to use older mame databases
add some older mame binaries
install the patched runcommand.sh so extra replacement tokens can be used in the runcommands
if the patched runcommand.sh is not installed use the regular runcommands without extra replacement tokens
add new EXTRA coco lines
still be able to use the older EXTRA coco2 lines when using an older mame version
be able to remove systems or categories that were installed by the script.
reorder some stuff and improve the menu a bit
turning of default rotation for libretro for the runcommands installed by the script
add a patch to install the run_mess.sh of Valerino script separately so when installed the lr-run_mess runcommands are installed if not then they are not
etc.

Hoping to be able to share this soon.

So I want to stop with the add-mamedev-systems.sh script.
The main reason is that generating a module-script and then installing it afterwards make no real sense anymore.
The other thing is that I want to update just one script if possible.
I hope you both agree on that, let me know what you both think.

jamrom2

@Folly Sounds good. List is long, and hopefully it will all piece together nicely.

I agree that using just the mamedev.sh script makes sense, provided this can all work.

Mame is one of those programs that updates so often, it gets confusing unless you're on top of it constantly. Switching versions will often wipe out all the work that was done to make games work a year ago. So hopefully all this will control some of that.

The ultimate goal for the RetroPie version should be to get as many systems working from a "one click" selection as possible, otherwise, you'd have to know tons of load and execute commands considering how many systems can be supported.

I do think there seems to be a bit too many selections of runcommand when the script loads in a system. Are all of them necessary like "game-specific" or lr-run-mess..etc. I'm just curious.

Thanks as always for the dedication and hard work you put into this!

Best,

JR

Folly

@jamrom2 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

@Folly Sounds good. List is long, and hopefully it will all piece together nicely.

I agree that using just the mamedev.sh script makes sense, provided this can all work.

Good to know, indeed it makes much more sense, it's faster and more organised.
It will be the future way to go, I think.

Mame is one of those programs that updates so often, it gets confusing unless you're on top of it constantly. Switching versions will often wipe out all the work that was done to make games work a year ago. So hopefully all this will control some of that.

I hope so too.
Though for the database I can only go back to 0240.
From that point the databases should be quite compatible, hopefully.
I have not made all the databases because it's a lot of work so some of them are missing.
For now there are only a few older binaries.
We have to see how it goes with this idea.

The ultimate goal for the RetroPie version should be to get as many systems working from a "one click" selection as possible, otherwise, you'd have to know tons of load and execute commands considering how many systems can be supported.

I do think there seems to be a bit too many selections of runcommand when the script loads in a system. Are all of them necessary like "game-specific" or lr-run-mess..etc. I'm just curious.

I have now added a install/remove line for the Valerino script.
If it's not installed it will not produce lr-run-mess runcommands anymore.
I am thinking of doing the same when lr-mess or lr-mame is not installed.
Then It would produce only MAME standalone runcommands.
Indeed there are a lot.
About the game-specific, I find it sometimes very handy to create per game input configs.
However I see the need for reducing runcommands indeed.
For now I will let then in, Will have to think about this for future updates.

Thanks as always for the dedication and hard work you put into this!

Best,

JR

Thanks for the feedback.

Best Folly.

jamrom2

@Folly Hi. So far, I've gotten most of the systems I want to run working, except when I get to the Ti99/4a.

I can't seem to get any of the .dsk files to run no matter what version of the runcommand I select.

I downloaded the latest BIOS files for .258 and put them in \BIOS\mame. But I end up with errors that state I'm missing other files.

************ nevermind... I figured it out. I had to copy the superxb.zip (super basic) BIOS from the ti99_cart.zip into the /BIOS/mame folder .

It's working now

duglor

@Folly Is there a simple way to just add lr-vice 128/lr-vice c128?
That's all i need. :)

Folly

@duglor said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

@Folly Is there a simple way to just add lr-vice 128/lr-vice c128?
That's all i need. :)

lr-vice is off topic.
I would check the core options in retroarch.
You probably have to add 64kb (total 128kb).
I think the types will still be 64/64c.
Otherwise open a new topic.

Folly

It took me quite some time but here is the update of mamedev.sh to 258.00.
I hope everything works as expected.
It has many changes and addons.
Here is the commit info.

jamrom2

@Folly loaded the new script and everything seems OK.

Still can't get the Coco2 to work, according to the log, it's running .258. How do I load the .254 version of mame without altering the .258 version? I'm a little confused as to how this is supposed to work.

Thanks,

JR

Folly

@jamrom2

For now there are 4 routes to take :

1:
The thing is you can't actually use coco2 anymore on 258 because it doesn't exist in that version, it's replaced by coco.
So if you want to run coco with the old coco2 experience on 0258 then you need to install the coco runcommands.
By default it will run with the latest bioses and hardware like the coco2 did.

2:
If you still want to run coco under the emulationstation section (or folder) coco2 then you can copy the runcommands (emulators.cfg) from coco to coco2.
Be sure you did a coco2 install before.
You can do this by selecting an older database first then install coco2 and then replace the emulators.cfg manually.

3:
Downgrade the mame binary to a pre 254 binary (250 for example) and then install coco2.
coco2 can be installed from the EXTRA without changing the database to a prior version as far as I know.
But the DEFAULT coco2 install needs a prior database to be selected in order to install properly.
This can be done by selecting a version from which you know coco2 still worked. So that would be 250 or 254 for example.
If you want to be safe then select a prior database and do every coco2 install (DEFAULT + EXTRAS)

This is still a one way route as there is only 1 mame install.
So your newer 258 mame will be replace by 250 for example.
If you want to backup 258 then do this manually by, for example, renaming /opt/retropie/emulators/mame to /opt/retropie/emulators/mame258 .
(use CLI as superuser and use the mv (move) command)
For the future it would be nice to run multiple versions together.
But first we will have to see if that is something for the future.

Be aware that I did not add older lr-mess binaries.
So running coco2 with lr-mess this way will also need an older lr-mess if not installed.

4:
What is also possible is to add coco2 lines to the EXTRAS so coco will be installed under coco2.
Though it's something I rather not do.
You can check the code if you want it's quite easy to add extra lines, they are just "comma separated values" (CSV).

jamrom2

@Folly said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

@jamrom2

For now there are 4 routes to take :

1:
The thing is you can't actually use coco2 anymore on 258 because it doesn't exist in that version, it's replaced by coco.
So if you want to run coco with the old coco2 experience on 0258 then you need to install the coco runcommands.
By default it will run with the latest bioses and hardware like the coco2 did.

This worked perfectly. I didn't realize they combined the Coco2 and Coco together, which is fine. I loaded the defaults, and all the additional "extra" options for Cassette, Cartridge and Floppy support. All work perfectly.

Thank you for this. Honestly, you're probably better off dumping any mention of the Coco2. The way it's set up now is how it should run.

Folly

@jamrom2 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

Honestly, you're probably better off dumping any mention of the Coco2.

I updated to 258.01 .
The coco2 lines will not be shown anymore when using the latest versions of mame.
The EXTRAS lists are now changed depending on what database you use.
Added some more stuff.
Let me know what you think of it.

Folly

Updated post 1 for using the default mamedev.sh script.

DTEAM

@Folly

MAME 0.259 is release. One ClassicH and 2 KonamiH

New working systems

Bandai U-Boat [hap, Sean Riddle, eggs] ROM name= UBOAT
Beat Player 2000 [Phil Bennett, system11]
Booby Kids (Magnet System) [Hugo Benedet, Recreativas.org]
Fidelity Electronics Bridge Bidder [hap, Sean Riddle]
Fidelity Electronics Elite Premiere [hap, Berger]
Fishing Maniac 2+ [Phil Bennett, system11]
Hegener + Glaser Mephisto Montreal 68000 [hap, anonymous]
Hegener + Glaser Mephisto Roma II [hap, anonymous]
Konami Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle, Mr. Do] ROM Name = KST25
Konami Top Gun: Second Mission (handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle] ROM NAME = KTOPGUN2
Let's Dance [Phil Bennett, system11]
Novag Chess Robot Adversary [hap, anonymous]
Super Tank Attack (prototype rev. 1.12) [Phil Bennett]
Um Jammer Lammy NOW! (Japan, UL1/VER.A) [Phil Bennett, Eric Yockey, Windy Fairy]

Folly

@DTEAM

Nice ;-)
Will do an update of the database when I can, this month.

jamrom2

@Folly I finally got around to updating and testing yesterday. Looks good. It's a lot easier to use and as long as you have the BIOS's in the right, it's pretty much seamless to install each system.

The complaints will come from users not understanding why the ROMs won't load based on whether they're cassettes, carts, or floppies. But that's the beauty of all of this... you have to learn something.

Folly

@jamrom2

Thanks for the feedback.
Glad I stopped with the older script seems it was the right way to do.
I am also quite happy with the newer script.
Still polishing stuff here and there.

Indeed you are right about the learning curve with mame/lr-mame/lr-mess.
The more you learn the easier it gets.
That is my experience.

Folly

@DTEAM @jamrom2

I updated to 258.07.

I added many mame binaries to my gdrive.
A list can be shown in the script and installing from it is also possible.

Do you both have other mame binaries that we can add in here ? :
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1--8uSe-xs1vFA-yPfw6Ac2XF6zzNzAuP

bbilford83

Hi all. I have been contributing over in the handheld thread, but I think this question is better put here. I've been trying to get the microvision system set up and while it works, I can't see a way to get overlays set up for it automatically. I've found both screen overlay pngs and overlay pngs for the whole handheld for each game, but it doesn't seem like there are mame artwork .zips that already have the layout set up to make it work right laid over the screen during gameplay. I am capable of creating the overlay files in retroarch to just put the simple screen backgrounds over the screens, but because each of these games had different controls (even different buttons), it really needs the full artwork to be playable. Does anyone know if these exist somewhere? They're beyond my capability to create, unfortunately...

Actually I got ahead of myself - even the screen backgrounds I found don't work with a straightforward overlay (like how it works for game and watch games) because they are meant to have the screen fully inside them. When I created the overlay the "border" is covering gameplay. I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to make it display inside the border but I don't know how.

Folly

@bbilford83

In the past I have seen artwork for systems, like microvsn, that had multiple "views" in them for multiple games.
An good existing example is vectrex .
However the challenge is finding them.

Indeed, for mame standalone you need to switch the view in the gameplay.
I think it's possible to make runcommands to load each artwork game-wise but it would probably be overkill for many users and it could get a real "mess", if you know what I mean.
Though I have experimented with this in the past but it has been some time ago.
What I did back then was making artwork for vectrex_frogger only as a test.
What I found was that If you do this then you need to add the system name to the game artwork. Otherwise you mix up artwork for other games, the normal frogger, for instance.

In the past I have been busy witch making background overlays for lr-mess for some dual screen game & watch games.
Here I had the same issue that you describe.
The issue that backgrounds don't fit the game screen.
I think what I did was selecting the zoomed view in mame standalone.
(with that you need to have the mame artwork of course)
Then I made a print screen of the lr-mess game-play too.
I used gimp to see how the screens together with the background images match using some layers.
I stretched or cropped the background overlay to match the game-play area.
Then I made a new image using the correct width and height and pasted the new background overlay and save it.
Overall a lot of work ;-)

Can you share some files on your gdrive so I can have a look ?